17 March 2023
Juventus and Sporting CP have met six times down through the clubs' long and distinguished history, but only two of these matches have come in UEFA competition.
STATS&FACTS
Juventus played Sporting Lisbon in the group stage of the 2017/18 Champions League, winning 2-1 at home and drawing 1-1 away.
It is not the first time that the Bianconeri face Portuguese opponents this season, having lost home and away to Benfica in the group stage of the Champions League. However, Juve are unbeaten in 14 of their 21 meetings against Portuguese side in European competition, winning 11 of those fixtures. The most recent victory against a Lusitanian team dates back to the second leg of the Champions League 2020/21 round of 16 against Porto.
The Bianconeri have found the route to goal in all of their last eight meetings against Portuguese opposition in Europe, scoring an average of 1.8 goals per game.
Finally, considering only the UEFA Cup/Europa League, Juve are unbeaten in four of their six matches against teams from Portugal, not only winning half of the matches but also managaing to keep a clean sheet also 50% of the time, including the most recent encounter, a 0-0 draw with Benfica on 1 May 2014.
WHEN THEY MET IN SEASON 2017/18
Juve and Sporting clashed in the group stage. The opener went in Juve's favour, who trailed after an Alex Sandro own goal after 12 minutes. Miralem Pjanić brought the teams level in the 29th minute and Mario Mandžukić completed the comeback, worth the three points, in the 84th minute.
The match at the José Alvalade stadium in Lisbon finished all square, with Juve snatching a point thanks to Gonzalo Higuain's goal in the 79th minute
Classic Match UCL | Sporting Lisbon - Juventus 1-1 17/18
…ON BOTH SIDES…
There is no shortage of players that have worn the shirts of both Juventus and Sporting CP throughout history.
Here we'll mention just a few, starting with Paulo Sousa. The midfielder from Viseu, after playing season 1993/94 with the Lisbon outfit, moved to Juventus, where he played two magical seasons, in which he won Serie A, the Supercoppa, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League.
Another Portuguese, Dimas Texeira went in the opposite direction. At Juve from 1996 to 1998, he played for Sporting from 2000 to 2002.
Two other recent examples of former players from both sides are Alberto Aquilani (Juve 2010/2011, Sporting 2015/2016) and Valeri Bojinov (Bianconeri in 2006/2007, for Sporting in 2011/2012).
Franco Israel is in Sporting's current squad. From 2018 the goalkeeper worked his way through the Juve Academy and from 2020 to 2022 was the keeper of the then Under 23 team.
